Dynamite is coming the closest with all its public domain and/or licensed characters like the Shadow, Red Sonja, Tarzan, John Carter, Green Hornet, Zorro, all the Project Superpowers heroes, etc., but, while they've hired some name writers, I just can't buy the stuff because most of the art is amateurish, rushed, or otherwise off-putting.  Still, I'm ready to jump on the moment they step things up.

The question for this thread: What's your favorite 3rd Company?

Past or Present, what 3rd Company did you like the best and which did you think had (or has) the most potential to be up there with the Big Two?

Some possibilities--
CONTINUITY COMICS--Neal Adams created some iconic-looking characters and kept a solid look to the art over most of the line, but the writing just wasn't there.

CROSS-GEN--They invested heavily in fantasy-oriented titles tied together by some sci fi thread, but their best book RUSE didn't need either.  They expanded way too fast and imploded.

ATLAS COMICS (SEABOARD)--I still love some of "Marvel Jr's" first or second issues, but they expanded and imploded even faster than Cross-Gen!  Slow growth, people!

VALIANT. ACCLAIM, DARK HORSE (their connected super-hero titles), IMAGE (their original books), FUTURE COMICS (the last attempt I remember by names I recognized, Bob Layton & Dick Giordano), and a multitude of tiny publishers--they all tried but they all failed by making very obvious mistakes (expanding too fast, not bothering to hire name creators, concentrating on an unattractive tone or genre).  Jim Shooter tried THREE times, picking a very dull house art style every time.

So many legendary creators from the 70's/80's (when the Big Two produced a LOT of material that is being mined for billion dollar movies right now) are still producing!  Except for Jim Starlin and Neal Adams, most of these Masters of the Artform have (by their own volition or by some misguided decisions by the editors and publishers) left the Big Two in favor of doing creator-owned material.  If I had some millions to spare, I would drop a big pile of money in front of legends like Byrne, Perez, Simonson, Ordway, Gulacy, P. Craig Russell, and solid storytellers like Tom Grummett, Kerry Gammill, Keith Pollard, Steve Englehart, Doug Moench, Don McGregor, and many many others and say "Build me a creative empire!"  No matter how much you spent, you'd make it all back and much more with the first billion dollar movie you sell based on the new creations these geniuses would make!

My point is--there's money out there to be invested and to be made, the talent is there, and there is a market in the pop culture right now like never before--all the factors exist for a 3rd Company to take the world by storm!

Second question for this thread: Do you see any up-and-comers?

Another vote for Valiant.  Old Valiant put out a lot of good comics.  New Valiant has been putting out amazing comics for the last four years.  They do crossovers the right way.  They've built their universe the right way.  Their thoughtful approach to what they put out has really paid off.

And on a side note, I know JB doesn't feel any real connection to their characters, but I'd still love to see a JB Eternal Warrior something.

I think Valiant in the 90s (the Unity era, as it were) made a pretty honest effort, and those books were palatable. But so many missed the boat.

I believe the issue today is that DC and/or Marvel are desperate to keep their stranglehold on super hero comics (which really has never worked), and there just aren't any new concepts that aren't already being used in some form - and any third super hero comic publisher would be getting lawsuits left and right. I suspect it's nigh impossible to start a company under those circumstances.

I haven't been collecting much of comics of any type over the past few years, save for one or two really good exceptions, but I've seen Previews and there are ninety-twelve different web sources for news in comics. Crud, I know more about some comics today than I did when I was actually collecting them! And that's another cautionary indicator... how can you write stories with surprises when you have to promote them three months ahead of time? Spoilers are killing this industry too...

*Yes, I know that DC fell into that grop when Marvel started running 'em up the flagpole.

Loved Liberty Project though.

These days, with heavily computerized coloring, glossy pages, and high price points, comics themselves don't appeal to me much. Trying to jump in on something new or try something old that's been brought back holds little appeal for me anymore. When I do try something, either the amateur level art body-slams me out of the book or there's ultimately no "there" there. 

I fully acknowledge that it might just be me. Comics just aren't what I do for fun anymore. 

Do we think that Marvel tanked MALIBU on purpose?  Malibu seemed to be doing everything right--they actually advertised, they had distinct characters that stood out, movie deals were being talked about--but I've heard Marvel bought them just for their coloring system.

WILDSTORM was the best that Image had, but they kept undercutting their own concepts--WILDCATS was the new X-MEN, STORMWATCH really had potential, and a lot of the Jim Lee-designed characters really could have gone somewhere.  People were talking about GRIFTER like he was the new Wolverine!  Moving to DC and rebooting finished them off.

VALIANT made waves when it had Dr. Solar, Turok, and Magnus, but their remaining characters just don't do it for me.  But Valiant DOES seem to be doing things right--hiring some real talent, not growing too fast, having a cohesive company look and universe.  Can you Valiant fans recommend any specific books?